Okay, here is a link to just one of the problems with Renew 2000 - the wiccan prayer. The same people - Renew International - are putting out "Why Catholic". I would think this alone would be enough for any pastor who conforms to the Church.

DO NOT RESEARCH WICCA ON THE WEB. DO NOT GO TO ANY SITE ASSOCIATED WITH WICCA. DO NOT BUY ANY BOOKS ON WICCA.

You will be opening a door that you will regret opening. Please believe me on this. You'll be letting "things" in that you don't want in your life. ITS VERY DANGEROUS. I'll leave it at that.

This links Renew with Call To Action. They promote homosexuality, married priests, women's ordination, etc. cta.org is their website and a look at their links page shows their association with these groups.

Print this stuff out and give it to your pastors. Ask him to read it. Be aware that he may not read it, so when you give it to him, point out the specific problems and emphasize that "Why Catholic" is from the same group - Renew.

He might do away with it if enough evidence is presented to him. It all depends on his interpretation of said evidence, though. He's a pretty open-minded guy, so if you can give me enough to work with, we may be able to get that ball rolling. Again, thank you for your help and guidance. It's proven very valuable to me.

I would have to see the leader's book and the work book to point out specific problems. If you can, print out the info from the links above and present it to him, making sure he knows that this is from Renew - the same people who are giving you "Why Catholic".

BTW guys, if this thing promotes a gathering in a circle, thats something to avoid. From the long article on wicca that is linked above:

Quote:

Another observation is that the Renew 2000 participants are required to stand in a circle and say this so-called prayer of directions. What Catholic devotion requires participants to stand in a circle? Answer: none. Can one find such prayer circles in the CCC (part Four - Christian Prayer)? Absolutely not. Of course, these "sacred circles" are all part of Wicca or Nature Spirituality. The Wicca religion on circles states in summary:

Common elements to all Sacred Circles include the following:

cleansing and purification shielding from unwanted energies grounding creating the circle calling positive spirits and the four directions (east, south, west, and north) raising and sending energy or medicine power closing the circle Circle recommendations include:

create an atmosphere of reverence, using a quiet place either inside our outside use candles, incense or fire in the center of the circle place a sacred object or crystal in the center of the circle place symbolic representations of the four elements in or around the circle A feather symbolizes air and the direction East. A candle symbolizes fire and the direction South. A bowel of water or a sea shell symbolizes water and the direction West. A container of earth or a stone symbolizes the earth or the direction North.The five points of a pentacle symbolize the 4 elements (Air, Fire, Water, Earth) and Spirit.

All I have seen was a small hand-out leaflet at church and the priest's sermon on the event of learning more about the faith. I gave my brochure to my sister in Ohio. Now, I want to find out about it and inform others so it is not implemented there. According to the website, the program is in quite a few dioceses.

It is obvious that your church has already decided to implement this program for at least an initial period (most of these programs have several spring and fall sessions.) They may have invested money in the materials. There are obviously some proponents of the program in the parish who strongly feel it has value.

So what you have to do if you disagree is get on the committee that evaluates adult faith development so that your point of view is represented.

If your parish is very large, it probably has a wide variety of programs for a wide variety of participants.

If someone doesn't join that group, will they decide to join the Legion of Mary instead? Highly unlikely.

If you really wanted to belong to the Legion of Mary, would you decide to join a Renew group instead, if L of M wasn't available? Highly unlikely.

Your parish religious ed committee has probably devoted a lot of time and study to selecting this program, and if you believe these programs are detrimental, you should be prepared to spend the same amount of time and effort to influence the selection of programs in the future.

That's exactly what I intend to do. I'm already going to inquire about getting on the committee for Adult Faith Development. As a cluster, we are pretty large, but my individual parish is very small.

Man, I wish I'd found this message board earlier. Knowing what I know now, I probably wouldn't have gotten involved. As it stands now, I'm doing some more heavy research and preparing a report on my findings to my priests.

To allegro, Doug C., bonaventure, and anyone else I'm forgetting....thank you so much for you input. You guys are great!!

Here is a link to a description of one Generations of Faith programs. At first it sounds good, but then it gets worse and worse.

Sigh. This is the program they are using this year in my parish.

_________________O God, our refuge and our strength, look down in mercy on Thy people who cry out to Thee, and through the intercession of Mary, the virgin Mother of God; Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse; Thy holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all Thy Saints, hear our prayer for the conversion of sinners, and for the liberation and exaltation of our holy Mother the Church. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.